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Venus Fly Trap
Venus Fly Trap, Dionaea muscipula, Family–Droseraceae, is an endemic, perennial, insectivorous plant of the southeast coastal plain of North and South Carolina. The following information is condensed from “Growing At-Risk Medicinal Herbs” by Richo Cech.
- Range, hardiness and adaptability.
- Venus Fly Trap is native to a very localized range in the Outer Coastal Plain and Sandhill regions within a 100-mile radius of Wilmington, North Carolina. The largest extant concentration, probably comprising 50% of the remaining wild population, is located on Holly Shelter Game Reserve near Wilmington. The plant has been transplanted and naturalized to the wilds of the New Jersey pine barrens and also to the Appalachicola National Forest of the Florida panhandle.
- Venus Fly Trap has tenuous hold on existence and relies on a very limiting group of exacting environmental conditions to support its survival in the wild. Although acid wetlands outside the native range (even when located in the eastern Piedmont or in the south) might serve as surrogate homes for the plant, a primary conservation objective should be to protect and encourage the growth of remaining wild stands in situ. Another relevant objective is to support the rehabilitation of wetlands, thereby winning back the many places within the native range of where the plant once grew but is now extirpated.